A British couple on a dream holiday were among 17 passengers injured in a horror bus crash when the driver allegedly fell asleep yesterday in Thailand.

Janet Brassington, 54, from South Shields, Tyne and Wear, and James Smith, 64, from Rothbury, Leicestershire, were in the vehicle when it lost control in Ratchaburi on Sunday afternoon May 7.

The pair yelled in terror as the bus smashed into an electricity pole, crushing the front of the vehicle and trapping people inside.

Police and paramedics rushed to the crash scene, around 80 miles from the capital Bangkok, to treat the injured. They also included holidaymakers from Germany, Japan, the Philippines, and Thai nationals.

Shaken Janet and James - who had recently travelled to Malaysia on their once-in-a-lifetime holiday - were rushed to hospital where medics were treating them for their injuries.

Police are now investigating the driver Visakha Charoenporn, 57, who was allegedly asleep at the wheel when it crashed on Songpol Road in the Ban Pong district while travelling to the popular tourist destination of Kanchanaburi, best known for the film The Bridge on the River Kwai.

Police Major Thanawat Sudkaew said: 'Officers immediately travelled to the scene of the crash with rescue teams and paramedics to provide emergency assistance.

'We found the white bus crushed against the concrete high voltage pole and it had a fully damaged windshield.

'There were 17 injured passengers including 10 Thais and seven foreigners. They were taken to the Banpong Hospital for medical attention.

'The passengers said the driver fell asleep at the wheel which caused the crash so he is being interviewed and CCTV cameras from the scene are being checked.

'The driver will also undergo alcohol and drug tests.'

The two Germans injured in the crash were also taken to hospital. They were Lena Belting, 19, from Bocholt, and Kiara Kuppers, 19, from Borken.

One of the injured passengers, Thawatchai Laddee, 37, from Thailand, said that he was travelling in the bus from Bangkok Bus Terminal to visit his friends in Ratchaburi.

He said that he sat on the left side near the door and noticed that the vehicle was being driven at varying speeds, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, as if the driver was sleepy.

At the scene, the minibus lost balance on the left side and crashed heavily into the electricity pole, without any car in front of them.

Thawatchai suffered a broken hand and several cuts and bruises on his body.

Another passenger, Kritima Soda, 19, told police that the driver appeared irritable and became moody with the foreign passengers due to their heavy luggage.

She suffered a cut on her head which needed stitches and another wound needing stitches on her hand.

Police Colonel Piyapong Wongketjai, the superintendent of Ban Pong district police station, confirmed that the driver did not have any underlying medical conditions.

Piyapong Wongketjai stated that an investigation is now being carried out into the driver.

The policeman said: 'The driver said that he was sleepy and did not know what caused the crash. From the other witnesses, we believe he fell asleep. If it is found that he was driving dangerously endangering the lives of passengers, he will be prosecuted for this.'

Thailand has one of the world's worst road safety records. Ministers have set the goal of reducing fatalities from 32.7 deaths per 100,000 people to 12 per 100,000 people by the year 2027.

However, a lack of road safety education in schools, notoriously easy driving tests, police failures to enforce road laws as well as widespread corruption and chronic under-investment in infrastructure are among the reasons the efforts are hampered.